Title: Idioteque (3/?)

Author: Jendle

E-mail: jenny.preston@virgin.net

Disclaimers: Not mine, JKR's, except for the title which is also the title of a song by the god-like geniuses Radiohead. Please don't sue me cos I'm skint enough as it is...

Spoilers: Don't think so...not yet, anyway.

Date: 12/11/01

Summary: Draco is staring at Harry, who is staring at Seamus.

Warnings: Slash. If you don't like, don't read.

Archive: Yes to the HPSlash archive, anywhere else just ask.

Notes: This is my response to a challenge, which went thusly: 'Draco threw back his head, laughing insanely until he realized the whole class was staring at him and sat down, blushing wildly.' And I have no idea where I found it, so please don't ask...

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Draco sat down at the breakfast table the next morning sleepily wondering why Potter and Finnegan had just become the centre of attention.

"Eewww!" Pansy exclaimed loudly and suddenly. Draco nearly jumped out of his chair, then turned coldly to face her.

"Pansy, I'm sure whatever it is doesn't mean you have to pierce my eardrums at this hour of the morning," he told her.

Pansy looked horror-stricken. "Potter and Finnegan are...eww..." Lost for words she pointed over at the Gryffindor table, where Potter and Finnegan were engaged in a deep kiss, oblivious to the stares and mutters, and no doubt the disappointed looks from just about every female in the school.

Forget his eardrums, Draco felt as if his heart had just been ripped out of his chest and jumped upon repeatedly by the stupid, selfish Irish bastard who currently had his toungue down Harry's throat. It was really all he could do not to burst out crying into his cornflakes.

"Really, Pansy, anyone would think you wanted Potter for yourself from your reaction," he said, feigning indifference. Join the club, he added silently.

To distract himself, he wandered over to the Gryffindor table as soon as he had finished eating and was happy out loud that at least their defective genes wouldn't be foisted on more unfortunate children.

He really meant to walk off as soon as he said it, but the sight of them playing tonsil tennis yet again was another few footprints on his heart and for a moment he forgot who he was and why he was there. He came to a second later and noticed Granger looking at him oddly.

Oh, gods, don't let her realise, he almost prayed as he quickly walked away. Granger was, he was forced to admit, a clever little Mudblood and he wouldn't put it past her to read his look and run off to tell Potter all about it. And that was the last thing he needed...yes, if he put it to the back of his mind and didn't tell anyone about it, then maybe it would go away and he could get a crush on Blaise Zabini or someone. It would be difficult enough for his father to accept that he was gay, but even worse if he discovered that his son was in love with a Gryffindor, Harry Potter at that.

*

Harry and Seamus were sitting in the library that same evening trying to do a Potions essay when Hermione appeared from behind a stack of books and sat down at the table facing them with an odd expression.

"Harry, can I have a word?" she asked after a long moment of looking at her expectantly. Harry shrugged and followed her out of earshot of Seamus.

Again he looked at her expectantly while she appeared to be struggling with something.

"Harry...look, I don't know how to say this, but..."

"What? Have I grown an extra head or something?" Harry found he had temporarily forgotten how to be worried.

"...I think Malfoy's in love with you."

"What?"

"Malfoy. He...when he came over to the table at breakfast, he just stopped for a moment and stared at you with this weird look on his face."

"I didn't notice him this morning," Harry said, puzzled.

"You were a bit preoccupied with Seamus," Hermione pointed out dryly. "But I've been watching him whenever he's around us today, and he just been not looking at you two; deliberately not looking. And when he thinks no one's looking, he looks like his world's just ended."

Harry swallowed. Malfoy couldn't be in love with him. That was just unfair, now he had Seamus who he was determined to be happy with. He didn't think Ron would ever forgive him if he found out about how he felt about Malfoy. Seamus was a safe bet everyone would be happy with, and besides, it was nice being with him. But it wasn't Malfoy. Draco. Damn.

Hermione was looking at him anxiously. "Are you alright?" she asked.

Harry shook himself. "Fine," he said. "But I bet he isn't. This is Malfoy we're talking about. It's about as likely as me being in love with him." Damn, again.

Hermione had an undoubtedly odd look on her face just then. "Don't be so sure," she said, and left him standing there thinking about the expression he had seen on Malfoy the previous day.

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Draco, meanwhile, was busy telling himself that he had better things to do than mope over someone he didn't even like. Not at all. Nope, he didn't have even the slightest twinge of anything other than hate for Potter. He had more important things to do, like finding out what the Weasley twins had been up to with that Chrestomanci statue.

It opened when he tickled its feet with the same dry 'My dear sir, was that really neccesary', and he found himself face to face with a long, dark passage. He lit his wand and proceeded to explore it.

It seemed to be going downwards and slightly to the left. After a minute or so, there was a fork in it with several crates marked 'Weasley's Wizard Wheezes' packed into a niche in the wall. Draco declined to look in them, and instead took the passage on the left hand side. This time he was going up, but this made the fact that he shortly emerged behind a tapestry in a dormitory corridor that seemed from the names on the doors to be the Gryffindor boys' no less of a surprise.

He glanced at his watch and realised it was time for him to be back in the Slytherin common room, unless he wanted Snape to rip his head off. But this was certainly an interesting discovery, he thought as he made his way down to the dungeons.

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